Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

Brushes with Prime Ministers

Chris chats to the Godfather of British blues, John Mayall. Plus, the Top Tenuous takes in your desperate claims to the fame of Brushes with Prime Ministers and Presidents.

Little Freddie pops up to tell us all about the poppies he saw at the Tower of London for the first time...

Our Mystery Guest has been entertaining music gig goers since the '60s - he's the Godfather of British blues, John Mayall...

As a passer-by takes a tumble into Prime Minister David Cameron, the Top Tenuous takes in your desperate claims to the fame of 'Brushes with Prime Ministers and Presidents'...

Today's show is dedicated to anyone who's got November in their sights as a 30 day mission to reclaim what's rightly theirs back from the clutches of gravity...

And today's show is entitled: There's no age limit to having fun, but a route map does come in handy now and again!

2 hours, 59 minutes

Last on

Tue 28 Oct 2014 06:30
ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 2

More episodes

Previous

Lessons in pumpkin carving

Next

Chocolate treats... Ummmm!

See all episodes from The Chris Evans Breakfast Show

Music Played

  • The Banana Splits

    The Tra La La Song (One Banana, Two Banana)

    • Television's Greatest Hits Vol. 5: In Living Color (Various Artists).
    • TVT Records.

  • Blondie

    Denis

    • Atomic: The Very Best Of Blondie.
    • EMI.

  • James Blunt

    When I Find Love Again

    • Moon Landing: Apollo Edition.
    • Atlantic.

  • Boney M.

    Daddy Cool

    • Million Sellers Vol.14 - The Seventie.
    • Disky.

  • Ken Boothe

    Everything I Own

    • The Story Of Trojan Records.
    • Trojan Records.

  • Crosby, Stills & Nash

    Marrakesh Express

    • Over The Years....
    • Rhino.
    • 001.

  • Culture Club

    Victims

    • Culture Club - Greatest Moments.
    • Virgin.

  • The Spencer Davis Group

    Keep On Running

    • Fifty Number Ones Of The 60's (Variou.
    • Global Television.
    • 1.

  • Derek and the Dominos

    Layla

    • Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs.
    • Polydor.

  • Dexys Midnight Runners

    Geno

    • Greatest Hits Of The 80's (Various).
    • Disky.
    • 5.

  • George Ezra

    Budapest

    • Wanted On Voyage.
    • Columbia.
    • 001.

  • The Four Seasons

    December, 1963 (Oh, What A Night)

    • The Very Best Of.
    • Polygram Tv.
    • 11.

  • Boris Gardiner

    I Wanna Wake Up With You

    • Now 1986 (Various Artists).
    • Now.

  • Phil Harris & Bruce Reitherman

    The Bare Necessities

    • The Disney Collection Volume 2 (Various Artists).
    • Pickwick.
    • 6.

  • Michael Jackson & Queen

    There Must Be More To Life Than This

    • Queen Forever.
    • Virgin EMI.

  • Joan Jett and the Blackhearts

    I Love Rock 'n' Roll

    • Joan Jett - I Love Rock 'n' Roll.
    • Blackheart.

  • John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers

    Crawling Up A Hill

  • Gloria Jones

    Tainted Love

    • The Best Northern Soul All-Nighter (V.
    • Virgin.

  • Lenny Kravitz

    California

    • Lenny Kravitz - Baptism.
    • Parlophone.

  • Julian Lennon

    Too Late For Goodbyes

    • The Greatest Love Vol.2 (Various).
    • Charisma.

  • Jona Lewie

    Stop The Cavalry

    • The Ivor Novello Winners.
    • EMI.

  • Lorde

    Royals

    • Pure Heroine.
    • Republic.

  • Dean Martin & Helen O’Connell

    How D'Ya Like Your Eggs In The Morning?

    • Cool Couples (Various Artists).
    • Sanctuary.

  • Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

    In The Heat Of The Moment

    • (CD Single).
    • Sour Mash Records.
    • 001.

  • OneRepublic

    I Lived

    • (CD Single).
    • Interscope.

  • Pet Shop Boys

    Always On My Mind

    • Pet Shop Boys - Discography.
    • Parlophone.

  • Pilot

    Magic

    • 25 Years Of Rock'n'Roll Vol.2 (1974).
    • Connoisseur Collection.

  • Pink Floyd

    Louder Than Words

  • The Specials

    A Message To You, Rudy (feat. Rico Rodriguez)

    • Greatest Hits Of The 70's (Various).
    • EMI.

  • Status Quo

    Rockin' All Over The World

    • Whatever You Want - V.Best Of Status.
    • Polygram Tv.

  • Wah!

    The Story Of The Blues (Part 1)

    • Once In A Lifetime (Various Artists).
    • Telstar.

  • Pharrell Williams

    Gust Of Wind

    • (CD Single).
    • RCA.
    • 001.

  • ZZ Top

    Gimme All Your Lovin'

    • Top Gear 2 - Various Artists.
    • Columbia.

Pause For Thought

Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth

Last month, in the middle of the night, along with a thousand other people, I sang at a moving prayer service which we call Midnight Selichot. As the Jewish New Year approached, we needed a channel for our spiritual energy.Β  We found it through song.Β  The midnightΒ service creates a life-shaping environment for reflection and renewal.Β  To achieve this we rely on the healing power of music.Β 

Deeply embedded in Jewish tradition we find a respect for the powers of the mind, a robust appreciation of the pleasures of the human body, and an unceasing quest to improve and ennoble the spirit.Β Β Kabbala, or Jewish mysticism, teaches us that music is the language of the soul.Β 

Our sacred text, the Torah, describes itself as a song. Our ultimate guide to life is akin to a joyful melody that shapes the mind and the spirit.Β  And, in a poignant passage, the Bible describes how King Saul’s tormented mind was calmed whenever David played the harp for him.Β 

Jewish music is usually intimately tied up with words. Our songs and daily prayers quote extensively from the Psalms, which were sung by the ministering LevitesΒ  in the Temple.Β  Our Sabbath meals bond families together through melodies for grace after meals. In some Synagogues you can hear performances of cantors and choirs which are almost operatic!Β 

Over the ages, popular Jewish movements have sought to make worship and spirituality accessible to everyone, even the unlettered, through song.Β  For example, many of the intense wordless chants of the Jewish mystical Chasidic movement, are haunting, hypnotic, and profoundly beautiful.Β  Some are joyous and inspiring, summoning up enthusiasm and appreciation of the wonders of God’s world.Β  Others are mournful, drawing upon our tragic history of dispersion and loss, expressing β€œThoughts that do often lie too deep for tears” as Wordsworth so eloquently put it.Β 

The Book of Psalms concludes with a tribute to the role of music in prayer:

Praise God in his sanctuary;

praise him in his mighty heavens.

Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,

the harp and lyre,

praise him with tambourine and dancing,

with the strings and pipe

and with the clash of cymbals.

Let everythingthat has breath praise the Lord.Β 

For me, words provide inspiration, but music lifts the soul.

Broadcast

  • Tue 28 Oct 2014 06:30
    ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 2

Farewell Chris Evans: The best bits from his last shows at Radio 2

After eight years of hosting the Breakfast Show, Chris Evans leaves Radio 2.

500 Words

ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 2's story-writing competition for kids.